We Lived on the Horizon
Erika Swyler
Atria Books
Hundreds of years in the future, with Earth’s climate wrecked by generations of industry, the city of Bulwark keeps its citizens safe. High walls surround the city to protect it from the vicious dust-laded winds that blast across the plains. Within the walls a communal society evolved, guided and assisted by Parallax, the city AI and a host of subsidiary systems. Every citizen has their place and moral obligation to the community, from the privileged Sainted to artists and grow house workers. It’s a system that has survived for centuries. Now a Saint lies murdered in his home—and Parallax has erased him from its database.
Saint Enita Malvolis is a bio-prosthetist creating replacement limbs and organs for those injured through work or disease. Nearing the end of her life she creates a new being centered around her house AI system, called Nix, to continue her legacy. Following the murder Enita, her ex-wife Helen, and Nix become aware of more anomalies within Bulwark. A water plant unexpectedly drops offline. A warehouse reports tea deliveries where none have taken place. Areas of the city-wide AI are going dark or vanishing. It seems a rebellion is coming, but who or what is behind it? When Enita uses her skills to heal a young woman she really shouldn’t have, it leads to complications and unexpected insights. It seems the city is growing ever more dangerous for the Sainted. Can Enita and her friends survive the coming storm, or will they have to flee Bulwark and take their chances in the wilds?
In We Lived on the Horizon, Swyler creates sympathetic and complex characters while achieving a high level of sophisticated world-building based on an all-too-plausible future.
